Android, as an open operating system, has been increasingly widely used in terminal devices. With gradual increase of application programs, for a terminal device (for example, an Android smart phone) using an Android operating system, to operate, in a more convenient and quick manner, application programs installed on the terminal device, a multi-screen desktop design is used for an existing terminal device using an Android operating system. The multi-screen desktop design means that a desktop is divided into several desktop screens, where each desktop screen is used to display a desktop object, one desktop screen is a one-screen desktop, and multiple desktop screens form a multi-screen desktop. The desktop object refers to an object that needs to be displayed on the desktop, and the desktop object includes but is not limited to a shortcut icon of an application program, a file, a folder, and the like. In the terminal device using a multi-screen desktop design, how to sort desktop objects on a multi-screen desktop is a difficulty to be resolved for the existing terminal device using a multi-screen desktop design.
An existing method for sorting desktop objects is generally setting a desktop object in a first location to a draggable state first, and then dragging the desktop object in the first location to a second location, so as to achieve an objective of moving the desktop object from the first location to the second location. For a terminal device using a multi-screen desktop design, this manner has problems of a complex operation, high time consumption, and a high locating error rate. If an application program icon A on a first desktop screen is to be moved to a blank area on a fifth desktop screen, it is required to touch and hold down the application program icon A to set the application program icon A to a draggable state; drag the application program icon A to a screen edge, so as to drag the application program icon A from the first desktop screen to a second desktop screen; and continue to drag the application program icon A that has been dragged to the second desktop screen to a screen edge, so as to drag the application program icon A from the second desktop screen to a third desktop screen. By analogy, the application program icon A can be dragged to the fifth desktop screen only after four times of desktop screen switching are performed; and finally, the application program icon A is released in the blank area on the fifth desktop screen, so that the application program icon A on the first desktop screen can be moved to the blank area on the fifth desktop screen. For another example, if locations of an application program icon A and an application program icon B are to be exchanged, it is required to first touch and hold down the application program icon A to set the application program icon A to a draggable state, drag the application program icon A to a blank area, and then drag the application program icon B to a start location of the application program icon A; and finally, move, to a start location of the application program icon B, the application program icon A that has been dragged. After the foregoing processes end, location exchange of application program icons is complete.